Monday, March 28, 2016

What's been going on this last week?-My schedule was pretty intense, I had 5 inspections on Monday, 4 on Tuesday, 4 on Wednesday, 1 on Thursday, none on Friday. This was really unual, and out my my control. I hope this upcoming week is more steady.
-I received my social security card in the mail last week. I need it for the application process called SWAC. SWAC is secure worker access card that needed my background information for the last 10 years and my passport as well. Last week I had successfully completed the background info and documents portion of this process. I got my photo taken for my badge. The next steps for this week are having my background information clear with the government, setting in on a training class for safety, then I should be able to attend WTC inspections. https://www.secureworker.com/apply-online.asp
- My favorite TV shows are on right now: RuPauls Drag Race, Girls & Boad City. Its nice to have exciting entertainment to look forward to.A great interview from Ru with a few spoilers from the season thus far

- I haven't had any coffee for over 10 days. I have been drinking green tea, herbal tea, and a little black tea instead. I bought matcha tea at a place called David's Tea to be my prime alternative to coffee. I know I am not 'caffeine free' but I can feel my TMJ in my jaw is not as bad as before.Here is the Matcha Maker I got . The lady at the store said, when I expressed disdain about the price, Buy Once, Cry Once. Afterwards you won't regret it. She was right!

- I got myself some sweet office supplies. I have been at AK Engineering for just about 3 years now and I figured it was time to get a pencil holder that I could actually use! I also got a paper tray because other inspectors who I am training come with me on site and write draft reports for me. So I now have a place for them to throw my draft reports! Check it out!This is a cheerful thing I have done for my desk-life.

So thats the summary of last week. For this week:Wedding: Figure out dancing lessons, shoes, tailoring of the dress
Running: I successfully ran 3 x before work last week. This upcoming week, run 3 x before work, and once on the weekend.
Studying: I have 8 more days to study

Sunday, March 20, 2016

- I got in 3 runs last week by run-commuting. Tuesday & Thursday for 30 minutes, and Friday just 20 minutes. This year I have to give special attention to my back and hips so as to not get injured!- I did a full circuit of physical therapy on Thursday. I plan on keeping this a weekly task.

- Strength training: Pole private at Body & Pole was a definite conditioning experience: Hip & shoulder opening, Back & core strengthing. I look forward to the exams being behind me so I can train more frequently. A great way to relax.

- I came out to Les, told him I got into the Marathon. He looked a little worried for me, because I typically get overwhelmed. Luckily is it still 9 months away!

Studying

- I finally signed up for the exam. I registered for the first option to do a morning session from 8 AM to 12 PM which was April 5th. The seminar professor had recommended taking the exam no less than 2 weeks after the end of the seminar, and the date I chose is 17 days after the seminar, which means I'm not following the recommendation to the "T", which is causing pangs of doubt. The reason I chose April 5 was because that the date with my preferred time slot of 8 AM. The other scenarios of taking the exam at 4 PM after 3 inspections is unpleasant to think of. It will all work out has to be my mantra with this.

- I completed the 'homework' of 8 chapters of the workbook

- I completed the 'sample test packet' of 40 pages hand written by the seminar teacher, who is also a person who wrote the exam.

- I am in the process of reviewing the notes from the 16 hours of seminar I went thru those two Saturdays ago.

Goals: Finish reviewing and identifying all possible sample problems by 3/27.: (The structure of the exam is 60 questions from 3 possible reference materials, 30 questions from a set of construction plans. It is recommended to spend 1 hour on the open book portion and 2.5 hours on the plan set). Review and memorize the answer and location to the sample problems between 3/27 & 4/3. Handle the exam on 4/5/16. Have a massage booked for 4/5/16. Have a nice birthday in between the studying.

Wedding

- I need to get my dress tailored

- I need to consider dancing shoes for the first dance.... I have beautiful glitter wedges for the garden party part of the party, but I didn't purchase them with dancing in mind..

- Les & I are doing well on keeping track, and the Barden conference calls are going well :)

Good things from the week:1) I found a 5 dollar bill on my short run on Friday

2) I have a close friend who just gave birth to a healthy baby girl!

3) I successfully navigated the NYC social security office this week

4) Rupaul Drag Race Season 8 is a joy and very entertaining to watch

5) I registered for the J.P. Morgan Corporate Race with my company, it is a NYC city wide empolyee fun-run that AK Engineering is signed up for

6) My boss had a workout class-bonding hour booked at a work out studio called Throw-Back Fitness. It was silly and fun.

7) I have so far gone 2.5 days without a cup of coffee - an achievement! I had taken a personality test that stated that my personality was Anxiety - what a bummer! So i realized I just need to stop fueling the fire with so much darn coffee. I have been drinking green tea and Matcha tea instead. I'm not going cold turkey from coffee, but I do feel noticably more pleasant. Here's hoping everyone else around me and that silly internet quiz will notice a change in like a month or so.

Monday, March 14, 2016

Wedding stuff completed
1. Les sent the Chowgirl's catering company the signed proposal.
2. Officiant & I are communicating about the date for our skype session to review vows
3. not much to do honestly
4. Aunt Candy is coming!

Marathon
1. Last night I did the full physical therapy to attend to my tired hips.
The level of running base I need to have by the wedding is comfortably running 12 miles a week. So, like 15 weeks to get to that level comfortably. That is a lot of time honestly, which i appreciate. I will have the goal of getting myself out there on the road 3 times a week for short runs, just to be excited about it again. With Daylight Savings I will chose to run-commute after work to enjoy the extra sun :)

Studies
1. I had gotten through the 'homework' given by the structural seminar guru to do chapters 1-8 of the Structural Steel Inspectors workbook. I put in 2 hours pounding through, but got stuck where it felt the material isn't applicable. A little frustrating. So instead I will do the following:
- Tuesday I will tab my international building code book as I have been informed to
- Once tabbing is complete I will go through the personalized workbook the instructor also handed out.
- Then I will review all the portions in the hand outs.
Once completing these steps I will sign up for the exammm. eeek

Work Stuff: Need to find social security card & get my passport for gaining a special access card for my World Trade Center inspections. The places I will be inspecting are future retail spaces like H&M and a fancy watch place, but the procedure for getting into WTC at 185 Greenwich is a royal pain.

Goodthings
1. I had a nice walk through central park because I had two inspections directly across from eachother, that the best way to reach it was by strolling
2. I got to visit the inside of the Occulous - the wtc path station that looks like an eyelash - and it turns out it isn't waterproof! The contractor Structuretone was running around trying to maintain the leaks!

3. Yesterday I had just seen a beautiful Disney short called "Lava". It is a tear jerker!

4. My realtor informed me today that my (most likely) future landlord had just sent the architectural plans to the Jersey City permitting office for review. This is good news. Hopefully they will be approved, and then construction can happen.

Sunday, March 13, 2016

Wedding
1. We followed up on the catering proposal
2. I gave Les my portion of the catering cost
3. I booked the hotel accomodations for the saint paul wedding night
4. I updated the guest list portion of the wedding excel sheet
5. Les looked up dancing classes. apprently the going rate is $90/hr.
6. We reached out to the officient to schedule a skype session in April
7. I looked up noise ordinances, and it isn't required for non-amplification
8. We casually browsed wedding bands/rings

Marathon1. Need to do PT
2. Is it wrong that I am excited about wearing something fancy on my possible marathon day? I am thinking of a Beyonce Inspired Racing Top along the lines of "Who runs the world? GIRLS!" this is leading down a worm hole of etsy & pinterest possibilities. Whatever it takes to get committed I guess

Studying
1. Yesterday was the last seminar. I feel stressed about it. I feel stressed by the time crunch of having to pass this test and then sign up for a second seminar a month later for Welding. When I was at the seminar I was informed that this certification isn't even worth that much in comparison to the one held by AWS, the American Welding Seminar. This makes me think that the International Code Council Exam that I am signing up for is CHOPPED LIVER. Disgusting and worthless... no... it is going to look good no matter what but I feel annoyed and anxious about it.
#1 - The tasks I will take will be finishing the work book.
#2 - Reviewing the handouts I received
#3 - Memorizing the portions highlighted during the seminar
#4 - Sign up for the exam, to be taken before 4/15.
Worst case scenario will be that I fail this exam 3 times, then I won't be able to take the Welding Seminar with this Guru teacher. My job prospects at AK Engineering won't fail because of that. It is a bit unrealistic to pass this exam when I have zero relevant job experience to reinforce it with. And I was hesitant to sign up for these exams in the first place BECAUSE of the stress. but oh well. All I can do is put in 3 hours of work today and then try to chill the F out and be happy because I am not at work right now.

5:20 OK I put in 3 hours on this. Got from Chapter 5 (1-16) & ch. 6 (1-9) in that time. I need other books that are in the office, so i will make good progress tomorrow with all of the required materials.

Good progress, I can rest easy now for the rest of this crazy weekend.

Here are some Cheesy quotes I am going to store for safe keeping:
"Do you need a mentor, or do you need to make a decision and move forward?"
"The road to success is dotted with many tempting parking places"

Friday, March 11, 2016

I'm spending a lovely friday night doing laundry and getting back into the swing of things. The purpose of this blog is to break down the scary tasks i have at hand. I shall list them in no particular order: Study & Pass the following ICC (international code council) exams: Erecting {of steel framing} & Bolting - test 1, the Welding - test 2. Train and run the NYC Marathon on November 6, 2016. Organize wedding events for June 25 & August 20th.

These feel very big to me and make me panic when i am not working on something, or when there isn't a plan. So here is where i will keep my bite size tasks, and I will update it once I have completed it.

ICC EXAMS
- Review the following chapters in workbook: Chapters 3-8 by TONIGHT
- Go to second seminar tomorrow on time (8 AM, therefore get into that area by 7:30 to account for crazy traffic, therefore get out of the house by 6:30 at the latest).
- After this last seminar, by 3/18 I will choose to pick the first attempt at the actual exam. I bet I will need multiple attempts. I hope to give myself 1 month to truly study all of this, so exam #1 will be around 4/18 I am guessing

NYC Marathon
- I need to get a strong base of running 12 miles a week up to the wedding. Training for a marathon will take 12 weeks using the Hal Higdon Novice 1 training plan. I will start the training plan the week after my honeymoon, and the marathon is actually the day after Lesik's Birthday (hmmmmmmmm).
- Today I ran 3 miles run-commuting home from work.
- I will probably invest in sunglasses to run in
- i am considering investing in a "garmin' of some sort, as long as i don't bail on this marathon thing

Wedding
- Les & I will be going over wedding stuff on Sunday, so I am not worried.